Cheers to the Jackson County Board of Education for scuttling its “zero tolerance” policy regarding weapons in the school system.
Zero tolerance is seldom good policy. It may make the board sound tough on an important issue, but anything that takes away the school administrators’ authority to consider mitigating circumstances is ripe for abuse. The kid who accidentally brings a small Swiss Army knife to school in his cargo pants should not be treated as harshly as a student who pulls a switchblade during a cafeteria confrontation. If that seems like common sense, it was not allowed under the zero tolerance weapons policy.
The new policy would leave it to the discretion of school officials as to what punishments are appropriate for students who accidentally - or on purpose - carry weapons to school.
Zero tolerance policies are like gun laws. They do nothing but create criminals where none existed and do nothing about the problem.
I remember when my shop teacher showed us his hunting rifle on our lunch hour in the back of his car. Now he would be a class X Felon.
Good work Jackson